Healthcare news and information site RACmonitorreported with some fanfare in early November of last year that DOJ Civil Fraud Section Director Michael Granston (a friend and former DOJ colleague) had announced at a conference on October 30 that DOJ would begin to seriously consider urging courts to dismiss meritless qui tam or whistleblower actions brought under the False Claims Act at or shortly after the government had reached its intervention decision.

On November 17, Law360reported that DOJ, in response to RACmonitor’s reporting, had denied adopting a more aggressive stance towards seeking dismissal of qui tam actions it had determined to be lacking in merit.

Now we learn that DOJ’s denial of a policy change to Law360 back in November was not entirely accurate. Indeed, on January 10, the same Michael Granston quoted by RACmonitor issued an internal memorandum marked “Privileged and Confidential; For Internal Government Use Only” announcing a general framework for evaluating when to seek dismissal of qui tam actions, pursuant to 31 USC § 3730(c)(2)(A)—something DOJ has only sparingly done over the last 30 years since the FCA was substantially amended.

About This Blog

Target Letter—published by the attorneys of Lane Powell’s Investigations, Compliance & White Collar Team—is a resource for those who are in need of practical information and valuable insights covering a broad range of government investigations and state and federal criminal and civil proceedings. The blog’s authors frequently appear before courts and agencies throughout the country in a wide variety of matters and at all stages of proceedings and use this platform to keep readers up-to-date on the latest trends and changes in the regulatory world. To receive future updates, subscribe to the blog by email or RSS feed.

ABOUT OUR INVESTIGATIONS, COMPLIANCE & WHITE COLLAR TEAM

Target Letter—published by the attorneys of Lane Powell’s Investigations, Compliance & White Collar Team—is a resource for those who are in need of practical information and valuable insights covering a broad range of government investigations and state and federal criminal and civil proceedings. The blog’s authors frequently appear before courts and agencies throughout the country in a wide variety of matters and at all stages of proceedings and use this platform to keep readers up-to-date on the latest trends and changes in the regulatory world. To receive future updates, subscribe to the blog by email or RSS feed.